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Alice Burgess

Alice Burgess (nee Payne) was an aunt of Charlie's future wife, Ida Payne. George Payne, Ida's father, was Alice's older brother. Alice was born in Westminster on 5 March 1870 and lived with her parents in Rochester Row (her father, also named George Payne, was a cutler). Between March 1876 and March 1883 she attended the girls department of the nearby St Stephen's School, which had been established by the Victorian philanthropist Angela Burdett-Coutts. In 1891 she was living in Rochester Row and worked as a cutler's assistant, presumably as part of her father's business. On 30 January 1894, at St John Evangelist, Westminster, she married Charles John Burgess (33, a clerk). In 1905 the couple were living in Arngash Road, Catford, not far from East Dulwich. Her husband, Charles, was a first cousin of Charlie's mother, Emily Payne (nee Clarke). It was a small world!

Alice was infrequently mentioned in Charlie's diaries; only on about six occasions during 1903 and 1904. Alice and her husband do not appear to have had any children.